


I Heard Taylor Was Shredded

by AParticularlyLargeBear



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Misgendering, Trans Male Taylor Hebert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 05:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16257479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AParticularlyLargeBear/pseuds/AParticularlyLargeBear
Summary: Taylor asks Brian to help him out with a gym routine. Brian does his best.





	I Heard Taylor Was Shredded

**Author's Note:**

> Note/warning:
> 
> This has some trans feelings.
> 
> Brian is doing his best but makes some mistakes.

"Taylor, this is too much weight."

The girl— _boy_  sitting on the press bench gave Brian a resigned, disappointed look.

"Don't pull faces at me," Brian folded his arms. "You asked me for help, and I'm giving it."

"But how am I supposed to build strength if I don't lift anything?" Taylor nudged the barbell by her— _his_  feet, rolling it slightly.

Brian arrested the motion with his own foot. "You need to get your form right before you start benching, or you'll hurt yourself."

"Isn't that what you're here for?" Taylor fiddled with his ponytail, a bushy mass which barely managed to corral his hair.

"No. If I spot you more than you can lift, you're just going to learn bad habits."

Taylor sighed and looked down at his shoes. Brian felt like he should say something, but didn't have the first idea what. He was grossly underqualified to attempt to assist Taylor with her— _his_  problems, and Brian was regretting more and more letting Lisa guilt him into bringing Taylor along today. For god's sake, how was he meant to help when he kept fucking up the basics?

At length, Taylor looked up again, setting his jaw. "Okay, what do I need to do?"

"First off, you need get into the right lying position. Then, we can practice the lifting motion..."

Brian let the routine take him away from his thoughts. The teaching came far more naturally than any therapy ever could. Brian knew training. He only knew people as far as needed to keep the Undersiders functional, for a given value of. Taylor was also a much better student than any of the others, as if the idea of getting Alec or Lisa into the gym wasn't already laughable. Simply put, Taylor listened, minor adjustment or major critique, he took it onboard without a fuss.

Sweat was running down his brow and his arms were beginning to tremble with exertion. One more rep, and Brian eased the barbell back into place. Taylor blinked a couple of times, squinting at him. Right, no glasses.

"That's enough for now. Take a breather."

Taylor took several seconds to make it back into seated position. "I could have done more," he said. His chest was heaving, and Brian briefly wondered how healthy it was for Taylor to have compression across his ribs while lifting. Definite question for Lisa. He was not broaching the subject of Taylor's chest.

"Could? Maybe. Should? No. Breaks are just as important as reps." Brian gestured for Taylor to stand. "Deep, slow breaths now. Take on some water, too."

"Okay," said Taylor. 

For a while they worked on the breathing exercises together, long enough for Taylor to mostly get his gasping back under control.

"I don't feel like I got very far," said Taylor softly, and Brian wasn't certain whether he was meant to hear.

"Progress doesn't come overnight."

Taylor laughed, short and hard. "Don't I know it."

Brian shrugged. "Keep listening the way you did today, and you'll get there eventually."

Taylor seemed to curl in on himself. "Yeah," he muttered, eyes dropping again.

Brian grimaced. He'd intended to be encouraging, but had clearly missed the mark. Times like this, Brian found he had to remind himself that Taylor, sitting there with slumped shoulders and a morose expression, and Skitter, who had the presence and the flair to cow a bank full of people, were the same person. Hell of a difference a mask could make. He was almost certain that Taylor liked Skitter better than she—he did Taylor. From the moment Lisa had called Taylor's cape persona a 'he' on that first night, to yesterday evening, when Brian had seen Taylor beaming over his own newly created Parahumans Wiki page because they 'got it right', Taylor had a fire in him when it came to caping.

Skitter's image was on Skitter's terms and nobody else's.

Not for the first time, Brian tried to imagine himself in Taylor's shoes and not for the first time, almost immediately gave up. Try as he might, he couldn't wrangle a headspace where he could look at himself, look at his body and say 'that's not me, I'm really a girl.' He just wasn't. Blatantly wasn't. But screw it. This wasn't about Brian, it was about Taylor.

After a few long seconds, Taylor murmured at his shoes. “I think I’m gonna go. See you back at the loft, thanks for the advice.”

Shit. Brian tried to put some upbeat enthusiasm into his voice. “Hey, come on, don’t get discouraged. We can do a couple more sets and then move on to different exercises, mix things up.”

Taylor looked at him, and then his face crumpled. “It’s not that I don’t want to—” he swallowed heavily. “I need to pee.”

Brian frowned, and then twisted to point away to his left. “And? Go pee. There are restrooms right—” the words died in his mouth as the signs blared into his face. MALE. FEMALE.

Fuck.

He looked back to Taylor. His eyes were welling up, and he was biting his lip so hard Brian worried he might draw blood. The decision was instant. “I’ll go with you.”

Taylor stared, and then quickly shook his head. “I—no, I can’t. I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering. Listen,” Brian put a hand on each of Taylor’s shoulders. “We’re gonna go pee. We’re gonna come back out here, and we’re going to fucking  _destroy_  the rest of this workout, all right?”

Taylor’s laugh was at least half sob, but he still nodded, managing a quavering smile.

Brian returned it, firm. “Let’s do this.”

As they reached the men’s restroom, Taylor hesitated. Brian squeezed his shoulder again.

Taylor exhaled a shaky breath, nodded, and stepped inside.

 


End file.
